Poll: Americans think marijuana's safer than opioids

DENVER (AP) - A new national poll says Americans think it's safer to use marijuana than opioids to relieve pain.

The Yahoo/Marist poll out Monday says two-thirds of the respondents in the telephone survey said opioid drugs such as Vicodin or OxyContin are "riskier" to use than pot, even when the pain pills are prescribed by a doctor.

Only one in five said marijuana was riskier than opioids. The rest weren't sure.

Those answering the poll overwhelmingly said pot should be legal for medical use. But they were less comfortable with children and pregnant women using pot to treat medical conditions.

The telephone poll of 1,122 adults was conducted last month. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.